Diptarka Hait, Ph.D.

Diptarka Hait joined the Flatiron Institute in July 2025 as an Associate Research Scientist in the Initiative for Computational Catalysis. He is also an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Columbia University. Dip’s research focuses on the development of theoretical methods to model electronic excited states, as well as their application to investigate photocatalysis and other forms of light-driven chemistry. He is also interested in modeling homogenous catalysis by open-shell species like transition metal complexes. Dip was previously a Stanford Science Fellow from 2022 to 2025. He received his S.B. from MIT in 2016 and his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 2022, with his doctoral research being supported by a Berkeley Fellowship and the Pimentel Research Award. Dip also received a Young Investigator Award from the ACS Division of Physical Chemistry.

Selected Publications
All publications can be found on Google Scholar

“Prediction of photodynamics of 200 nm excited cyclobutanone with linear response electronic structure and ab initio multiple spawning.” D. Hait, D. Lahana, O. J. Fajen, A. S. Paz, P. A. Unzueta, B. Rana, L. Lu, Y. Wang, E. F. Kjønstad, H. Koch, and T. J. Martínez, J. Chem. Phys. 160, 244111 (2024)

“When is a bond broken? The polarizability perspective.” D. Hait and M. Head-Gordon, Angew. Chem. 135, e202312078 (2023)

“Femtosecond symmetry breaking and coherent relaxation of methane cations via x-ray spectroscopy.” E. Ridente, D. Hait, E. A. Haugen, A. D. Ross, D. M. Neumark, M. Head-Gordon, and S. R. Leone, Science 380, 713 (2023)

“Orbital optimized density functional theory for electronic excited states.” D. Hait and M. Head-Gordon, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 12, 4517 (2021)